Friday, June 26, 2009

Garden Bounty 2009, Part 1: Arugula Meatballs

Last year's lettuce fiasco in my little garden plot resulted in a rethinking of my veggie plans for this year's garden. I decided not to grow leafy greens that grew in tight bunches, so I opted for arugula. I also had seen lots of arugula appearing in various blog posts amongst my regular food blog friends, and I thought it would be a good idea to try out some new things with it. One recipe that stood out to me was Bellini Valli's chicken & arugula meatballs, seen here. Tonight, after harvesting some young arugula, I made a bison version of this meatball.

I got some bison on special at the local overpriced grocery store. There might have been about a pound or so. I added salt, pepper, garlic powder, and about 1/2 cup of finely chopped arugula.
After mixing well, I got out one of my favourite and most-used kitchen gadgets: my #70 cookie scoop. I scooped out the meatballs and put them in a pan to brown.When they were nice and evenly browned, I added some homemade pasta sauce I whipped up last night using some of the tomatoes I canned last summer.I let the sauce and meatballs simmer until the meatballs were cooked through, then served them over pasta.
Arugula, especially if it's relatively young, has a pungent smell and is quite peppery. I have to say, however, that they didn't add much in terms of flavour to the meatballs. Perhaps I didn't add enough. Who knows. The bison might have been too strong a pairing, too. Still, it was an excellent meal.

12 comments:

Monica Cassani said...

mmm....totally yummy looking...we've got tons of arugula in the garden and I've got pound of grass fed ground beef in the freezer...

I'll be making this one soon too!!

by the way the zucchini hummus was great...I used it as a salad dressing several times as well as a dip...celery sticks and stuff...

my husband also really enjoyed it.

Wandering Coyote said...

Hey Gianna, nice to see you!

That zucchini hummus is excellent, isn't it? I'm glad you like it so much. I'll definitely be making that one again, too.

The beef might pair better with the arugula than the bison did. Bison has a much stronger flavour than beef, and I found the pepperiness of the arugula was a bit lost.

Donna-FFW said...

Arugula in meatballs is an interesting addition. The whole dinner looks delicious to me. Never have tried bison.. nust go read how you canned your tomatoes now.

Monica Cassani said...

seeing the amount of arugula there I already had envisioned tripling it!!

I tend to use excessive amounts of all sorts of stuff when I get inspired by a recipe...meaning I never stick to the recipe...

I love bison...but the beef will do fine...

and I'm glad I got my gut feeling validated...I'll really put a ton of arugula in!

Wandering Coyote said...

Hey Donna-FFW, welcome back!! Canning tomatoes rocks!

Gianna: See, I was an arugula virgin until now. I'd had it as part of a mixed green salad, but never in any other fashion. So, I really had no idea how much to use. Maybe you're right though; maybe I should have used WAY more and it would have had "something to say" - as an old boss of mine used to say.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

A great way of flavoring meatballs! a great recipe!

Cheers,

Rosa

la said...

I adore arugula (or rocket, as we call it here) and like it best served simply with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. (And maybe some toasted pinenuts and parmesan shavings, if I'm feeling fancy.)

Creative Classroom Core said...

I never thought of adding arugula to meatballs - what a clever idea!

Reeni said...

What a creative recipe adding arugula to meatballs. This is so comforting!

Dewi said...

I bet this meat ball taste so good. I love arugula...

Tina said...

I just made a meal so similar to yours - we must be on the same page. Homemade tomato sauce with lots of garlic. Fresh store bought pasta...yummy!

Heather S-G said...

Oh my gosh...I want a big..no HUGE bowl full of this! The meatballs look absolutely amazing. wow.

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